


Self Restraint

by LeChatRouge673



Series: Thea's Song [23]
Category: Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Origins
Genre: Modern AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-12
Updated: 2019-06-12
Packaged: 2020-05-01 22:09:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 909
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19186351
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LeChatRouge673/pseuds/LeChatRouge673





	Self Restraint

He was walking a fine line, and he knew it.

Stand there staring too long, and she might turn around and be just slightly put out he had not offered to help sooner. Not wait at all, and he would miss out on one of the most perfect sights the Maker had ever put on the planet. Namely: the shape of Cataline’s ass when she was stretching up on her tip toes to try to reach something on a high shelf. Nathaniel gave himself a full ten seconds: eyes tracing every curve of his wife’s body, appreciating the peek of pale skin that was exposed between her t-shirt and jeans as she reached, and trying for the eight millionth time to understand just how in the void he had gotten so damn lucky.

“Would you like help, Wildflower?”

She turned to face him, a teasing curve to her lips and a sparkle in her violet eyes. “What? You done watching the show already?”

He laughed quietly, bending down to brush a kiss against her temple before retrieving the box of granola from the top shelf. “Can you blame me? I’m a man who appreciates fine art.”

“You are impossible,” she giggled, shaking her head as she pulled out her phone to check their shopping list. “This is why it takes us twice as long to get through the shopping as it probably should.”

Nathaniel shrugged. “It is still time spent with you, Cat. So long as that is the case, I am content.”

She looked up at him with a gentle smile. They both knew all too well that had not always been the case. For the first few months, the double-takes and whispers and open staring had irritated him to no end, and even Cataline had been made more anxious by it. To outsiders, they were a completely unexpected pair: the beautiful, sweet-natured heiress of one of the largest business empires in Thedas married to the exiled son of a disgraced high-profile political family. It could have been worse: he didn’t even want to know what happened when his best friend and her husband tried to do something as mundane as grocery shopping, but it had still taken some time before he had learned to ignore everyone else in the room.

Which was admittedly made easier by the simple presence of Cat. Just being with her had a way of making the rest of the world fade away. The people who were closest to them, the people who _actually_ mattered, understood. They knew the long love story between Cat and Nate, and just how much they were meant for each other; how there could never be anyone else for either of them. Even just standing there in the cereal aisle, it was damn difficult to not take her in his arms and kiss her until they were both seeing stars.

“Ok,” Cat spoke up again, shaking Nathaniel from his thoughts, “Looks like we still need to hit the dairy case for milk and yogurt, produce for sundry fruits and veggies, and we need to figure out what we are doing for dinner tonight and tomorrow.”

“When are Thea and Loghain getting back from Gwaren?”

“Tomorrow,” Cat replied. “And you know they’re going to be tired and not up for cooking, so we can either do take-out or have something ready when they come over. Then date night is Wednesday, and I have the rest of the week planned out.”

Nathaniel reached over to place a hand at the small of her back as he pushed the cart forward. “For someone who used to rely solely on her cousin and her friends to cook, you have become incredibly proficient at meal planning.”

“I am not completely useless in the kitchen,” she retorted playfully. “Besides, the planning part is easy. You are the one who has all the skill when it comes to cooking. You have also been exceedingly patient in teaching me.”

“You, my love, have done nothing that required patience on my part. Incredible self-restraint, maybe, but only because just being that close to you drives me to distraction.”

A faint blush rose in Cat’s cheeks, and Nathaniel could not help but be slightly pleased he could still prompt such a reaction, even after having been married for several years. “If I recall correctly,” she noted, her voice tinged with just a hint of amusement, “Your self-restraint has failed you on more than one occasion. Including last night.”

“It was well worth having to toss a couple overcooked pieces of chicken in exchange for what we did last night.” He looked at her and met her smile with one of his own. “Besides, I believe _you_ were the one who kept teasing me, licking off the spoon like you were. You look me in the eye and tell me you didn’t know exactly how that was going to end up.”

Cat gave a deceptively innocent shrug. “I never said you were the only one who sometimes struggled with self-restraint,” she pointed out, looking up at him and fluttering her eyelashes ever so subtly. Nathaniel could feel his heart starting to race all over again, and he had to take a long, deep breath before he could remember exactly why they were at the store and not at home doing exactly what they’d been doing the night before.

“Please tell me we’re almost at the end of the list.”

 

 


End file.
